The one I had was longer than I have ever traveled before. Plane rides to Europe from LA are not this long.

15 and 1/2 hours to get to Santa Barbara from Chico. I’m not making that up.

The train was scheduled to leave Chico at 3:50 am Thursday morning, which I had no problem with because I could just crash on the train. That was not to be.

Due to the heavy rains in Seattle that week, and part of the tracks coming apart in Oregon, the train was delayed 4 hours. Finally getting on at 8, I was beat tired and crashed hard, and woke up in Oakland 5 or 6 hours later.

I met a man on the train named Robert Wright in the dining car. We got to talking and I found out that he is a photographer. Cool right? The catch is that he is mostly (legally) blind.

Serious? check out the link. he created a site for anything an everything, but most importantly he created a table for every photographic condition possible to get the perfect capture. I was amazed. He said it took him years to do it. He has been published all over the world, been on national news programs, and even does NBA games from time to time.

Quite an amazing individual.

I eventually arrived in downtown SB, met Mike Acuna, and then went straight to the bars. Mike’s parents were there, and partied pretty hard. We had Irish car bombs, tequila shots. We hopped around a little bit, the Ellen and I ended up going shot for shot until the bar closed. It was great to see everyone, it had been months.

We went back to the guys house after the bars to see Toby. I had told him I wasn’t coming, and he bought it. So to surprise him, I laid him out in a perfect tackle during his beer pong game. It was rad, I know Coach Bonds would have been proud, then ate something.

I had one of the best weekends of my life.

I’ve really been lucky this year. I don’t go out much in Chico (maybe once every two weeks), but the times I traveled to Vegas and SB this Fall are going to stay with me forever.

Friday night was the big party. So we all spent the day cold chillin. Frisbee golf, Polish horseshoes, and Smash.

Then at night the big party went down. These are just some of the pictures I took and liked the most, the rest will go up on Facebook.

Gotta give it to the girls, it was pretty damn cold that night, and water from the hose isn’t heated. They all went in the hot tub after to warm up. Turned into a little hot tub party as others joined them. Right on.

It was fun times had by all. One of the best parties I have ever been to.

Saturday we did the IV Loop. For Toby’s birthday, we went to every place in Isla Vista that sold alcohol (barring liquor stores). It was so much fun, we rolled 20 deep, and took over everyplace (except Gio’s).

The IV Loop:

1.Super Cucas—–Mexican Beer

2.Javan’s———-Bud Light Pitchers+Beer Hockey

3.Woodstocks—–Lunch+32 of Bud Light

4.Cali Roll———Saki Bombs

5.Freebirds——-Corona “don’t fruit the beer”

6.Study Hall——Mixed drinks and a prairie fire for Toby

7.Saigon Express–Pitchers

8.Sam’s To Go—-Pitchers

9.Gio’s————Pitchers and Flip Cup “We are the Champions”

10.Deja Vu——–Beer

11.Cantina———Beer

12.Dublin’s———Shots of Jack+a three wise-men shot for Toby (John, Jack and Jose)

By the end Toby was gone. We started at 1pm and finished around 8. Toby passed out, I took a nap with a forty in my hand and the night went on. woke up, played beer pong for the rest of the night and invented a word with Jory. “Crunklebunk”, also “Crunklebunked”, can also be spelled Krunklebunked.

Ask Jory what it means.

The next day I headed back up to Chico. Mike’s parents gave me a ride to Martinez, and I was great to talk to them about sports on the way up. Mike’s mom know more about football than most guys I know. Go Mrs. Acuna! It was really cool of them to do that.

Lastly, I’m all about Peace in the Middle East, the Shins, Carmel, the 1881, and moleskine.